Can Hollywood space these casting announcements out a little so we don’t have to worry about slow news days anymore?

Robert De Niro has signed onto Dark Fields opposite Bradley Cooper. He’ll play “a brilliant financial mogul” who pursues Cooper’s character, who finds a designer drug that gives him “newfound intelligence and success.” I bet there are side effects… [Variety]

Precious director Lee Daniels has revealed that Hugh Jackman will star in his upcoming civil rights drama Selma, about the historic 1965 marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. And speaking of De Niro, he might play Governor George Wallace. [USA Today via Collider]

Rachel McAdams has joined Owen Wilson and Marion Cotillard in Woody Allen’s next movie (after You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, which opens this year). As always, plot details are under wraps and the movie doesn’t have a title yet. [THR]

Avatar‘s scenery-chewing (in a good way) villain Stephen Lang is in negotiations to play Khalar Singh, the main villain in Marcus Nispel’s upcoming Conan movie. According to the casting sheet, he’s an experienced warlord “driven in his quest to find the Queen of Acheron and has been building an empire to do so.” Jason Momoa stars. [Latino Review]

Amber Heard, the latest Attractive Blonde Eye Candy to start booking roles left and right (The Informants, Pineapple Express, The Stepfather, The Rum Diary), has been cast in Nicolas Cage’s upcoming thriller Drive Angry. Cage plays a revenge-driven father out to kill the guys (among them Billy Burke as a cult leader) who killed his daughter and kidnapped her baby. [THR]

Justin Timberlake has joined Bad Teacher, a new comedy that stars Cameron Diaz as a grade school teacher who is very…bad. Actually could be great if they hit the appropriate raunchy/fun tone. Jason Segel and Lucy Punch co-star. Are Timberlake and Diaz still dating? Wait, don’t care. [Variety]

Finally, Neil Patrick Harris will star in Smurfs: The Movie as a live-action character — apparently it’s going to blend live-action and CGI. You know what else Harris is appearing in? Beastly, that awful-looking Beauty and the Beast-as-made-by-morons-from-the-CW flick. Might be time for a new agent, just saying. [Deadline]

Like this post? Grab our feed for your iGoogle page or RSS reader or whatever. Or read our posts in our daily e-mail.